FROM ADOBE WALLS TO DURANGO

When buffalo herds in the vicinity of Dodge City, Kan., became so depleted hide hunters needed to venture ever farther from the railhead to find their quarry, it was Charlie Myers who decided to establish a trading post nearer the killing fields. With partner Fred Leonard he filled wagons with supplies and contracted several hunting outfits to haul additional stock for the firm. The long caravan set out from Dodge in March 1874 and headed south into the Texas Panhandle. About a week later the partners and hunters agreed on a site near the adobe ruins of an old trading post just north of the Canadian River and began constructing a store. Charles Rath arrived in early May with